Warburton angered by ‘sloppy’ play

MARK WARBURTON last night blasted his ‘sloppy’ Rangers side for dropping points in the Highlands — and passing up the chance to move back into second spot. The visitors were unable to hold on to a 1-0 lead against Ross County, the Premiership’s bottom side fighting back to earn a well-deserved 1-1 draw. On a day when winger Barrie McKay hit out at the ‘dangerous’ fouls intended to break up the visitors’ counterattacking thrusts, Warburton was left frustrated after seeing Rangers continually losing possession to hand County a string of late chances. ‘I thought we were sloppy,’ he said. ‘If you are loose and sloppy in decision-making, then the other team will get chances. A loose pass or a sloppy tackle — whatever it might be — we gave the ball away too cheaply at times. ‘We got the early goal and then we had six counter-attacks that we had to take advantage of and get ourselves out of sight. ‘It just wasn’t a good level

of performance, in terms of moving the ball quickly and decision-making. ‘Last week (a 3-0 home win over Kilmarnock) was very good but we want to make sure our average is much better than that. I thought we did enough to be out of sight by half-time. ‘We were looking for the three points — it’s two points dropped, and that’s no disrespect to County. ‘We weren’t playing as well as we wanted to play but we had chances in the first half. You can’t give up opportunities like that. ‘If we get a consistent high level of performance, then the results will come. You are where you are. We dropped two points by being sloppy and not clinical enough. All we have to do is work hard and look forward to the game on November 19th against Dundee.’ Warburton was annoyed that, after Clint Hill’s opener, the centre-half found himself unable to prevent County captain Andrew Davies from equalising at a cornerkick. And he expressed disappointment that a series of second-half breakaways were only thwarted by home players diving in or pulling Rangers attackers back. ‘I don’t know how many yellow cards there were in the second half — that was a disappointing aspect,’ he said. ‘Every time we played it forward, our man was dragged back and that was frustrating for us. ‘Clint was blocked off for their goal. It looked bad because their man had a free header, but he (Hill) was blocked.’ Second-half sub McKay, on the receiving end as he looked to get Rangers up the pitch quickly, pointed to the six bookings picked up by County as he said: ‘When you break through and people take you out, it can be dangerous. ‘Josh Windass has a few bruises — but it could end up a lot worse. ‘It’s called a professional foul but it can be dangerous for the player on the receiving end.’